Southern Exposure

The southern Philippines is peppered with hotspots, and one detonated last week on the remote island of Jolo, where the Philippine army and marines fought rebels in three towns, and Air Force planes dropped 500-pound bombs on their strongholds in the island's thick jungles. It was the most intense fighting in the south in at least 30 years and by week's end, 22 soldiers had been killed, along with 60 rebels. Southern Command Chief Lieut. General Alberto Braganza said that several dozen American troops had been sent in from their base in the southern city of Zamboanga, although he insisted the...